Junk - Melvin Burgess [23]
I sat on the coach and watched the town go by. I didn’t say goodbye to the buildings and people of that place where I grew up, I just watched, I was happy to see them go. I didn’t know then how long I was going for. Sometimes I thought – just for a week or two. Other times I thought, I’ll never see this dump again. Thank God.
The coach trip took two hours. I was sitting there wetting my knickers all the way. Every time a police car came by I thought they were going to pull us over and arrest me and take me home. Of course nothing happened. When we got to Bristol I was goggle-eyed looking out of the windows trying to see everything. I was getting so wound up, I just wanted to dive into those busy streets and disappear like a little fish.
I was almost chewing my nails with frustration and excitement by the time we got to the coach station. I almost welcomed that feeling actually, because I didn’t want to be cool about it. I was planning on giving Tar a welcome he’d remember for the rest of his life. I was going to really go for it, knock him off his feet. I wasn’t going to be cool and swagger down the stairs and say, ‘Hi…’ It was going to be full pelt, total happiness. Tar’s had so much grief in his life. I wanted to make the poor sod feel so good. And I wanted him to make me feel good too.
I was thinking that all that excitement and frustration building up inside me was rocket fuel…
I saw him out of the coach window, waiting for me. I ducked down. I didn’t want to water myself down with little glances through the window. I kept my head down right up until I was on the last step down from the coach… then I saw him.
I yelled, ‘TAR!!!’ and I dropped my bags on the steps and I went off like a scalded cat, shrieking across the tarmac, screaming his name at the top of my voice. He looked quite alarmed. I got my arms round him and I hugged him and, oh, and I kissed him and I hugged him and I kissed him and I danced around and then I hugged and kissed him some more and, oh, and I squashed my boobs on his chest and slowly this enormous great smile crept across his face…
‘Oh, it’s so GOOD to see you… Oh, I’ve MISSED you, I’ve MISSED you…’ And I was pressing myself into him and pulling him against me and and and and – and I think it worked.
Actually, I didn’t have to put it on that much. I was pretty near hysterical anyway. It wasn’t just Tar I was kissing and hugging. It was… being on my own, having an adventure. Yeah. It was life. A big, fat slice of life. I’d been so anxious sitting on the coach but as soon as I stepped off it all that just vanished. I was thrilled. Just walking down the road was brilliant. I felt like a kid. If I was with anyone except Tar I might have wanted to try and look a bit more cool about the whole thing, but that sort of thing’s wasted on him. He’s so cool anyway. I just wanted to infect him with Gemmaness. I reckon I did, too. He was walking along with his lips wrapped halfway round his head. I felt like I was blowing him along the road.
I made him walk me round a bit. We went through the town centre to the docks… and I just fell in love with the place. It wasn’t big and busy like you think a city’s gonna be. No one was desperate about anything. There were weeds growing out of the walls and people weren’t rushing. I cooled down and I started feeling really mellow. I mean, I was still high, but it was